- Dog bites man: Idiot pols introduce bill to ban employers from checking applicants’ credit reports
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“As the US labor market comes under pressure, two senior figures in Washington are pushing to end a practice that prevents large swaths of US workers from obtaining jobs. A bill reintroduced today by Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts, and Steve Cohen, the representative from Tennessee, bans employers from using credit checks to vet potential hires. Denying jobs based on a candidate’s financial history ‘makes no sense,’ the prominent Democrats argue. It also disproportionately affects minorities.” [editor’s note: Suppose I run a business that hires financial advisors or people in positions where embezzlement is a problem. Think maybe applicants’ financial histories might be relevant? – TLK] (09/15/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/15/elizabeth-warren-credit-reports-employment
- Nepal: PM appoints three new ministers as interim regime prepares to hold elections
Source: ABC News
“Nepal’s prime minister on Monday selected three new ministers to join her interim administration, which is tasked with holding fresh elections in March after violent street protests last week led to the collapse of the previous government. Sushila Karki, the Himalayan country’s first female prime minster, appointed Kalman Gurung as energy minister, Rameshore Khanal as finance minister and Om Prakash Aryal as home minister. … Last week’s massive demonstrations — called the protest of Gen Z — ended with at least 72 people killed and hundreds wounded. The army stepped in to impose a curfew and finally agreed to make Karki the head of an interim government that will hold elections in six months.” (09/15/25)
- Tesla shares gain as Elon Musk reveals rare $1 billion stock buy in sign of confidence in EV maker
Source: CNBC
“Tesla shares jumped after CEO Elon Musk disclosed Monday his first purchase of the stock in the open market since February 2020. Musk bought 2.57 million shares at various prices Friday which tallies up to about $1 billion, a significant insider acquisition that traders took as a vote of confidence from the outspoken CEO. Tesla shares were higher by 8% in premarket trading Monday morning. They closed Friday slightly lower for 2025 despite a recent rally, with the stock up more than 25% over the last 3 months.” (09/15/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/15/tesla-shares-gain-after-elon-musk-discloses-purchase.html
- India: Regime forces kill top Maoist commander who had US$113,000 bounty on his head
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Indian security forces killed a top Maoist commander and two other rebels in a gun battle on Monday, officials said, as the government intensifies efforts to crush the decades-long conflict. India is waging an all-out offensive against the last remaining traces of the Naxalite rebellion, named after the village in the foothills of the Himalayas where the Maoist-inspired guerrilla movement began nearly six decades ago. … Three ‘top Naxal commanders’ were killed in the fight, the CRPF said, including Sahdev Soren, who was part of the central committee of the Maoist organisation. Authorities had issued a bounty of around US$113,000 for his capture.” (09/15/25)
- Trump Vows New Fake “National Emergency” in DC Over ICE Gang Dispute
Source: US News & World Report
“U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would call a national emergency and federalize Washington, D.C. after Mayor Muriel Bowser said its police would not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At issue is the provision of information on individuals living in, or entering, the United States illegally [sic]. Trump’s threat adds to a move critics have seen as federal overreach, with more than 2,000 troops patrolling the city. … Trump blamed ‘Radical Left Democrats’ for pressuring Bowser to inform the government about the non-cooperation with ICE, adding that if the police halted cooperation with ICE, ‘Crime would come roaring back.'” (09/15/25)
- Germany: Ruling Parties Lose Support in Vote in Merz’s Home State
Source: Bloomberg
“Germany’s ruling parties suffered losses in municipal elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s most-populous state, intensifying pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government to revive growth and push through reforms. The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, was able to more than triple support to 16.5% across the state, according to exit polls from Infratest dimap for public broadcaster WDR on Sunday. Merz’s Christian Democrats lost 0.3 points to 34%, but remained the strongest force in the state. The co-ruling Social Democrats, which once counted the state as a stronghold, declined 1.8 points to 22.5%.” 909/14/25)
- Do we need a treaty on neutrality?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Naman Karl-Thomas Habtom“In an era of widespread use of economic sanctions, dual-use technology exports, and hybrid warfare, the boundary between peacetime and wartime has become increasingly blurry. Yet understandings of neutrality remain stuck in the time of trench warfare. An updated conception of neutrality, codified through an international treaty, is necessary for global security. Neutrality in the 21st century is often whatever a country wants it to be.” (09/15/25)
- The Warmonger Rebrand
Source: Liberal Currents
by Joseph Stieb“On September 5, President Trump issued an executive order rebranding the Department of Defense as the ‘Department of War.’ The order boasted that the U.S. military is ‘the strongest and most lethal fighting force in the world’ and that this department ‘should have a name that reflects its unmatched power and readiness to protect national interests.’ He bizarrely ranted that since Congress consolidated the War Department and the Department of the Navy as the DoD in 1949 that the United States ‘never fought to win’ in the interceding wars. Oddly, Trump’s renaming has attracted support from many analysts and politicians who want a more restrained, less militarized foreign policy. They include both Buchananite nationalist conservatives, leftist commentators, and some mainstream outlets.” (09/15/25)
- To Protect Ukraine, Keep It out of NATO
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider“The war in Ukraine is heading to its inevitable conclusion. It may still take many months, but Russia will win the war on the battlefield, and Ukraine will be without some of its territory and without NATO membership. In such a situation, Kiev has every incentive to make a deal rather than wait for crushing defeat. There is no doubt that Ukraine will require reliable security guarantees …. While Kiev would like its security guarantee to come in the form of NATO membership, the most important guarantee of its future security is the opposite: a credible commitment from Kiev and from NATO that Ukraine will remain neutral and never join the Western alliance.” [editor’s note: Snider seems to think that if he just keeps proclaiming Russian “victory” is inevitable, it will magically come true. And there is not and never was any chance Ukraine would be allowed to join NATO – TLK] (09/15/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/to-protect-ukraine-keep-it-out-of-nato/
- The Marshall Plan for the Mind
Source: Law & Liberty
by Henry T Edmonson III“How much did the CIA book program contribute to the fall of the Soviet Union?” (09/15/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-marshall-plan-for-the-mind/
- Quantum Vibe, 09/15/25
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott BieserCartoon. (09/15/25)
- How the Trump tariffs boomerang to hurt US winemakers
Source: Washington Post
by Kevin D Williamson“Owning a vineyard in Napa Valley sounds fancy, but the wine business is, in reality, pretty gritty: It is a low-margin agricultural and food-processing business that is, on top of everything else, highly regulated. Now the Trump administration is threatening to make things a good deal worse by throwing a hand grenade into the U.S. wine industry’s supply chains and distribution networks in the form of tariffs that are meant, in theory, to protect domestic producers from overseas competition. Unfortunately, the wine industry doesn’t work the way Washington seems to think it does.” (09/14/25)
- Why Did Feds Ignore Epstein’s Financial Crime Wave?
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard“JPMorgan helped Jeffrey Epstein commit thousands of federal banking-law violations, per a bombshell New York Times report. Federal regulators perpetually ignored endless red flags of Epstein’s multimillion-dollar child-sex-trafficking operations. Federal money-laundering law requires banks to file a report for each cash transaction exceeding $10,000. Epstein was pulling out $800,000 in cash each year, ‘much of which was used to procure girls and young women,’ the Times details. Shortly after Epstein’s death in a New York prison cell, in late 2019, JPMorgan ‘filed a report with federal regulators that retroactively flagged as suspicious some 4,700 Epstein transactions — totaling more than $1.1 billion.’ … Ironically, during Epstein’s financial crime spree, the Internal Revenue Service was wreaking havoc on hapless small businesses for violating the same law.” (09/14/25)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2025/09/14/feds-ignored-epstein-crime-wave/
- Corrupt “Democracy” Makes Fascism Inevitable
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“[E]ven though Donald Trump has become an unprecedented threat who needs to be stopped, his mainstream ‘resistance’ funded by neocon Never Trumpers and the neoliberal DNC need to be thrown out with him for making his reign of terror possible by being only marginally less despotic than Orange-Man-Bad while daring to call their proto-fascistic shell game woke. This has happened before. In fact, this is precisely how the original Hitler ended up in power.” (09/14/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/09/corrupt-democracy-makes-fascism.html
- Is the Lack of “Friction” in Our Virtual World Leading to Liberalism’s Decline?
Source: The UnPopulist
by JL Wall“Our rapid-fire communication technologies may be overwhelming our capacity to deliberate and empathize, two new books suggest.” (09/14/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/is-the-lack-of-friction-in-our-virtual
- Liberal-Anarchism
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Wesley Whitman“Liberalism, properly understood, is not merely a justification for free markets or negative liberty. It is, at root, a philosophy of emancipation. Likewise, anarchism is not chaos, but the pursuit of a voluntary and non-dominating social order. When joined together and viewed through a dialectical libertarian lens, these traditions give birth to what I call liberal-anarchism.” (09/14/25)
- Quillette Narrated, 09/15/25
Source: Quillette
“Pride and Prejudice.” (09/15/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/09/14/pride-and-prejudice-politics-activism-feminism-blm/
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 09/15/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Threats Darken on Fox News as MAGA Fury over Kirk Goes Nuclear.” (09/15/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/200429/trump-threats-darken-fox-news-maga-fury-kirk-goes-nuclear
- EconTalk, 09/15/25
Source: EconTalk
“How Did America Build the Arsenal of Democracy? (with Brian Potter).” (09/15/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/how-did-america-build-the-arsenal-of-democracy-with-brian-potter/
- How to Fix It with John Avlon, 09/14/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Can Libertarians & Centrists Save Democracy?” (09/14/25)
- Free Talk Live, 09/14/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“Discussing all kinds of different cults :: Slavery, an opportunity? :: Martyrs are for taking away freedom :: Keene court case fighting cop corruption :: $58 million increase in government protection spending :: Is the US the best country on earth? :: Right wing cancel culture :: Rawdogging life :: Live by the sword? :: What is hatred? :: Is Trump just bringing us manufacturing jobs? :: Possible plans the US has for kicking the can down the road :: Peaceful separation is the only solution :: Lithium depletion caused Charlie Kirk shooting? :: DeFlock.me :: 2025-09-14 Hosts: Bonnie, Angelo, Riley.” (09/14/25)
- Jason Jones on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott brings Jason Jones of the Vulnerable People Project on the show to discuss his organization’s effort to help the civilians bearing the brunt of the Israeli government’s violence in Gaza.” (09/14/25)